trek. And, in spite of individual appeals to relations, &c., you may be
sure that the northerners knew pretty accurately how the land lay. Their
own action shows this.

Therefore, I put aside utterly, so far as I am concerned, the Uitlander
and Dutch conspiracy arguments, of which one hears so much, as things
which, though they may occupy the attention of leading article writers
in London, yet are not convincing, and have no smack of reality to any
one who knows something about the Uitlanders from personal observation,
and something about the Boers and Boer life from personal observation. I
put these aside and come back to the only argument that will really
wash, that has no clap-trap in it. And that is South Africa under one
Government, and under a strong and progressive Government. Human nature
is pretty much the same all the world over, and if the Boers have been
to blame in the past, no doubt the Britons have been just as much to
blame. Anyway, it is impossible and would be useless to strike a balance
between them now. The fact that stands out salient and that has to be
dealt with in the present is that South Africa is divided against
itself; that it never can and never will step up into its proper place
until it is united, and that, therefore, to fight for a united South
Africa is to fight on the right side and in a good cause.

And one thing I much like this plain reason for is, that it makes it
easy for one to do full justice to one's adversaries. I admire their
courage and patriotism very much. I acknowledge fully their dogged
obstinacy in defence and their dangerous coolness in retreat, and I am
sorry for them, too, and think it a sad thing that such brave men should
be identified with so impossible a cause. You must be careful how you
believe the reports sent home by war correspondents. I suppose people
like to hear harm of their enemies, and a daily paper's best business is